In a story straight out of the Kipling/H. Rider Haggard tradition, a British teenager learns that the world is wider than he ever imagined when he's kidnapped and taken deep into the jungles of Borneo. To the tribal Iban, dreams have great significance, and good or evil omens are pervasive; impelled by a vision, young Bayang leaves his village, taking Tambong—an outcast known as ``Duck Foot'' for her deformity—as a guide. When the two encounter Harry Windsor, a 15-year-old orphaned in WW I, they snatch him away, convinced that he can help them achieve the insights their dreams promise. The Iban ``Bejelai,'' or ``Dream Walk,'' becomes a journey of discovery for Harry, too, as his mettle is tested by his captors and by the jungle's dangers (including a party of headhunters); by the end, he has indeed helped both Bayang and Tambong, while they've shown him the narrowness of his racist, White Man's Burden views. Bosse's characters are strong and admirable, his writing precise and evocative; and the jungle—``where time was always now, and the vast ocean of greenery washed over [Harry] like an endless dream''- -is a strong presence holding both terrors and wonders in its depths. As in he did in Ganesh (1981) and in the brutal Captives of Time (1987), this gifted storyteller stirs hearts and minds while teaching readers to value the wisdom of distant cultures. (Fiction. 12-15)
Pub Date: Aug. 18, 1993
ISBN: 0-374-31757-7
Page Count: 180
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1993
The format of this taut and moving drama forcefully regulates the pacing; breathless, edge-of-the-seat courtroom scenes...
In a riveting novel from Myers (At Her Majesty’s Request, 1999, etc.), a teenager who dreams of being a filmmaker writes the story of his trial for felony murder in the form of a movie script, with journal entries after each day’s action.
Steve is accused of being an accomplice in the robbery and murder of a drug store owner. As he goes through his trial, returning each night to a prison where most nights he can hear other inmates being beaten and raped, he reviews the events leading to this point in his life. Although Steve is eventually acquitted, Myers leaves it up to readers to decide for themselves on his protagonist’s guilt or innocence.
The format of this taut and moving drama forcefully regulates the pacing; breathless, edge-of-the-seat courtroom scenes written entirely in dialogue alternate with thoughtful, introspective journal entries that offer a sense of Steve’s terror and confusion, and that deftly demonstrate Myers’s point: the road from innocence to trouble is comprised of small, almost invisible steps, each involving an experience in which a “positive moral decision” was not made. (Fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: May 31, 1999
ISBN: 0-06-028077-8
Page Count: 280
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1999
A somewhat entertaining, fast-paced journey that fizzles at the end.
A teenager runs away to Seattle, hoping to locate her missing sister.
Fifteen-year-old Eleanor idolizes her older sister, Sam, despite their being complete opposites: Sam is outgoing and wild, while socially awkward Eleanor is known as Little Miss Perfect, always doing the right and safe thing. After Sam runs away from home, the only communication she has with Eleanor are three postcards sent from Seattle. Eleanor decides to trace her 18-year-old sister’s footsteps, leaving her messages and hopping on a bus to find her. But when Sam doesn’t meet her at the bus depot, Eleanor, who has no real plan, has to learn how to survive on her own while searching the city for her sister. While the close bond between the girls is well depicted through flashbacks, the reveal of an important secret ultimately feels anticlimactic. A major plot point relies too heavily on chance and coincidence to be fully believable. While the color scheme, cityscapes, and background illustrations are atmospheric, the manga-inspired drawing style comes across as dated and flat. The depiction of the fabricated stories Eleanor tells is intriguing, as are the themes of friendship, living in the moment, and maintaining hope; unfortunately, none are thematically strong enough to resonate. The emotional impact of Eleanor’s experiences is diluted by her at times humorous narration. Eleanor and the main cast read as White.
A somewhat entertaining, fast-paced journey that fizzles at the end. (Graphic novel. 12-15)Pub Date: April 26, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-316-50023-4
Page Count: 280
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2022
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